Timor (/ˈtaɪˈmɔː/), also known as Timor-Bowenvale, is a mainly rural area in the Central Goldfields Shire of Victoria, Australia. It is located north of Maryborough, Victoria and northwest of Melbourne, the state capital. According to the 2016 Australian census, the populations of the statistical areas making up the Timor area were 181 in Bowenvale, 58 in Timor, and 24 in Timor West. Comparisons with previous censuses must be made carefully due to radical changes in statistical area boundaries. History Names Places names used in the area over time have included Chinaman's Flat, Butcher's Bridge, Cox Town or Coxtown, Central Chinamans, Leviathan Reef, Timor Creek, Lower Alma, Timor West or Lime Kiln Plains, Dwyer's Bridge, Bowenvale, and Timor. The term "Bet Bet" must be identified by its context, as its use in earlier times was not only for the Bet Bet Creek. Just as the now-Castlemaine area on the Loddon River was referred to as "of the Loddon" and "Loddon," locations near the Bet Bet Creek were referred to as "of the Bet Bet" and shortened, confusingly, to "Bet Bet". This is not to be confused with the current Bet Bet hamlet, further downstream on Route C278, which in earlier times was known as Grant's Bridge. Much historic documentation, especially maps, includes the word lead. A lead (/ˈliːd/) is an underground seam of gold deposits, and has nothing to do with the metal lead. (/ˈlɛd/) The historical records for the area are confounded not just by changing place-names, but by formal boundaries being at the confusing crossroads of divisions between various government administrative sections, including between the Counties of Talbot and Gladstone, between the civil Parishes of Bet Bet and Maryborough, between the former local government Shires of Bet Bet and of Tullaroop, which surrounded the Borough, later City, of Maryborough, and between modern administrative regions. Most authorities used the Bet Bet Creek as a boundary, but the Town of Timor straddles it. The shared boundary between the civil Parishes of Maryborough and Bet Bet is partly Bet Bet Creek Road. Early history The area was a small part of the territory of the Djadjawurrung people. The first non-indigenous arrivals came from Britain in the late 1830s and 40s and created two huge sheep runs known as Charlotte Plains and Norwood. The Timor-Bowenvale area straddles a section of their shared boundary. The comments made about the region's indigenous people by early